you and me, together we'll be (lost kit)

[butterflytuft]

Lost.

She was utterly and entirely lost.

The child trembled from head to toe as she skittered from tree trunk to tree trunk, eyes wider than the moon itself. Pupils flickered back and forth. Her twoleg nest...she couldn't see it. She couldn't see anything she recognized. Nearby, a river rushed, and she scuttled away from it, the sound frightening her. A dried pine needle snapped under her paw. She jumped - was that yelp coming from her? She didn't know, she was running then. Where am I? Where's home?

She could remember the door to the outside had been opened...the older twoleg had been angry, jabbing at her with his thick, furless paws. He was loud...the little kit, she was sad. She was loud, too. Her fur was pulled, and she was pretty sure she had bitten someone or something now that she was remembering it all. And the next thing she knew, here she was, panicked and trampling through a forest full of unfamiliar sounds and smells and sights. Finally, a patch of brambles sprouted up in the otherwise barren forest, and Gaia made her move towards it. The thorn snagged at her thick coat, but she didn't care. She just had to hide.


// blegh this is lazy BUT long story short Gaia was spooked by her twolegs and darted, she's now lost in the pine forest and has never been outside before :)
​

"SPEECH"​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar walks where Blaise had once wandered, lost and limping and baffled by shadows of cats rising from the treeline to greet him. There's a shell of that old kittypet inside of him, surely -- but now, when he looks at the glimmering surface of the water at his reflection, he detects something in his face that had never been there before.

Weariness? Perhaps. Wisdom? Certainly not, despite the nine lives passed from the fallen cats to him.

He bends to sip from the dwindling puddle. Dawn lights the sky with pale fire. Valentine is behind him somewhere, or... the cat who had shed Valentine, become special, chosen, a prophet.

The flame point is on his way back from the stone that had glimmered with moonlight. The river is hushed, the wind mild. The sun is beginning its ascent, ready to scorch the pine needles clinging to his paw pads.

He tastes the air. Despite his exhaustion, he knows he should hunt, see if he can't bring something back, for Daisy if no one else. She won't exactly ask for help, but her belly has swelled, and she isn't as swift as she had been.

But Blazestar tastes a bizarre scent, one laced with the tang of fear. A bramble patch trembles with movement. Cautiously, he pads closer and bends to peer between the thorns.

A kit, little patch of orange and black fur with a bit of yellow cloth around her throat, shudders beneath the arcing layers of brambles. She's shaking as if she's half-frozen to death, her terror tangible on the air.

"Hi, little one." His voice is hesitant, unsure. Blazestar glances about them and comes to the conclusion that the kitten is truly alone. No mother nearby, no father, no sibling. "Are you waiting for someone?" He wonders if her mother has simply left her here until she returns. He can only hope that is the case.
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​

 

[butterflytuft]

Gaia could hardly even tell that someone had approached, but as soon as she saw the big orange paws beneath the edges of the bramble, she knew she was a goner. Rapid breaths touched the air as she huddled further against the thorns as the cat outside ducked his head, revealing curious blue eyes to her. A harsh gulp would be her only response as she stared at him, petrified. Even if she'd wanted to say anything, her pounding heart and dry tongue wouldn't help much.

He asked if she was waiting for someone. Should she lie? Tell the truth? He could help her if she told the truth, but what if he was waiting for her to say she was all alone before he gobbled her up like the wild cat he was? He's going to pick his teeth with my bones! A small squeak left her as she cowered before ebony paws, and finally, after a few moments of painful deliberating, she gave her head a swift shake. No, I'm alone.
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"SPEECH"​

 

[BUGPAW]

Unfortunately for Gaia, Bug sometimes has trouble reading the room. With an excited gasp, the chocolate calico rushes over to Blaise's side, her round eyes crinkling from the wide grin she wears. "Ohmigosh hi! Your bandana is sooooo cute! It totally matches your eyes!" Bug doesn't notice the fearful stance of the younger she-cat, her excitement at the prospect of making a new friend overwhelming her common sense. "I mean, when I first saw it, I was all like, wowza!"

It takes her a minute, but finally, she realizes that the young she-cat is anything but thrilled. In fact, she looks like she'd just seen a ghost! Which is totally possible in Bug's eyes; she swears on her life that she'd seen one the other day, flitting between trees! (It was just the shadows of the branches shifting as the wind rustled them.) But now she's captured Bug's concern, her smile collapsing into a frown. "What's wrong?"​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar is afraid the kit will ignore him, cuddle further beneath the thorns -- or worse, run away and hurt herself. But she stares at him as though she's encountered the slavering jaws of a bloodthirsty dog or fox before slowly shaking her head no. She's not waiting for anyone.

He frowns, wondering where her mother is, where her housefolk are. The kittypet cloth around her neck gives her origins away as well as anything else. He glances to his side as Bug gambols up, breathless in her excitement. He gives the other feline a chastising look, though its gentleness softens its effect.

"She's afraid, and alone," he explains to Bug. "A kittypet. Not used to seeing cats like us." Cats like them. Since when had he become closer to what Bug is than what the lost child is?

He fixes his glittering blue gaze on the little tortoiseshell kit. "Why don't you come with us? We won't hurt you, I promise. I won't let anything hurt you. But we can get you warm and find you something to eat. Wouldn't you like that?" He steps back, just a half-step, hoping the distance will be less threatening. He doesn't know what he'll do with her once they get back to camp -- StarClan, what if she needs milk? He doesn't know how old she is. He just knows she looks tiny and doesn't seem able to speak.
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​

 

[butterflytuft]

A second cat approached next, this one closer to Gaia's age. She talked so fast, and her jumbling movements were overwhelming for the kit. Caught off guard by the interaction, her tail fluffed out in defense, and she fixed the calico with wide, fearful eyes. Finally, she stopped moving, and just like that her energy was gone, replaced with a worried frown. The giant one was speaking again, and with a small gasp she peered back towards him, unblinking.

She was surprised by the offer, evident in the pounding in her ears and the shocked blink. What he was offering sounded nice. He sounded nice, and even the bouncy she-cat next to him didn't seem too scary once she'd calmed down. He promised he wouldn't let anything hurt her - what could she do? Take her chances out in the wilderness? With monsters and scary predators and giant birds that would pick her pelt clean off? That thought alone was enough to get her to hesitantly crawl out. Bits of brush clung to her fur, tangled within the fluff from when she had pressed and pulled against it. Once out, and with her lips pressed firmly together, she glanced from the the smiley calico to the massive creamy tom, ears pulled flat against her head and tail tucked nervously.
​

"SPEECH"​